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ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ: ɪᴛ's ᴀ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇsᴇ ᴛᴀʙʟᴇs ᴀʀᴇ ɴᴜᴍʙᴇʀᴇᴅ

❝ ᴡᴀɴɴᴀ ᴛʀʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ, sᴡᴇᴇᴛʜᴇᴀʀᴛ? ❞

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   "OH MY GOD," YOU GASPED, RECOILING FOR A MOMENT BEFORE LEANING BACK IN. "Is that...?"

"In all of his star-spangled glory," Agent Hill confirmed, exhaling as she joined you in peeking inside. "Captain Steve Rogers."

"I thought he died during his battle with Hydra in the 40s?"

"Yeah, so did we," she muttered, "But it turns out he's still kicking. Albeit while frozen. Your dad was actually the one who found him."

"Really?" You looked at her, trying to determine if she was telling the truth or not. As far as you could tell, she was. "I never heard about that."

"It's not public knowledge," an authoritative voice sounded from behind you, and you both spun around to be met with The Director; Brendon stood next to him.

"Not yet, anyway. We're still working on trying to, well, thaw him out," Fury chuckled softly, "There's only a handful of people who know about this. Now that handful includes you."

You pinched the bridge of your nose and closed your eyes, having a hard time processing everything. "So my dad really did pull him out of the water?"

"Well, I was there too," he pointed out, making you smile, "but yes, it's mostly due to your old man that we have a frozen Captain America in our lab."

"Wow."

"Indeed. That wasn't all he found, either." Fury reached into his pocket and pulled out his smartphone. He tapped on it a few times before handing it over to you.

You took the device and examined the screen. It was a picture of a glowing, blue cube.

"What is this?" you questioned, looking more closely.

"That's what we're trying to find out."

✧ ✧ ✧

Chestertown, Maryland. Three weeks later.

"You aren't actually serious about this," you scoffed in disbelief as Brendon kept a firm grip on your arm, making sure you stayed as close to him as possible and keeping an eye out for any behaviour that seemed questionable.

"Yes, actually, I am. Last time we were here, you had a panic attack. Who knows what'll happen this time round?"

"Brendon, it's dinner with my friends. Whom I've known for years. If one of them was a Hydra agent, I'm pretty sure I would've been dead already."

"Not if that wasn't part of the plan."

You shook your head in incredulity at his mistrust. "I highly doubt I'm in any danger tonight."

"You're so unbelievably naïve, you know that?" he said harshly, coming to a sudden halt and turning you sideways so that you were facing him. "Whatever you think you know about this world – S.H.I.E.L.D, Hydra, everything your dad told you – is not even half of the messed up shit that goes on. I've seen people killed by the ones closest to them. People who they trusted completely. The way you trust your friends," he cocked his head towards the bar seats a few feet away where your friends were gathered, "So there's no way in hell I'm letting you out of my sight."

"Brendon, the place is crowded. No one's gonna try anything," you sighed, wanting nothing more than to be able to enjoy a night out with your friends without being under Brendon's constant supervision. You knew it was only to ensure your safety, but it was annoying nonetheless.

Brendon let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, that's what you think. And then you end up in a body bag. Constant vigilance, (Y/N)."

You began walking again and a few seconds later you were awkwardly standing in front of your friends, who'd all gone quiet at the sight of your very pissed off-looking bodyguard.

"Uh, hey, guys," you said cheerfully, trying to break the extremely tense atmosphere that had occurred. "This is Brendon."

Various greetings filtered through the air as your friends smiled politely at Brendon, who only gave a curt nod in return before leaning in and whispering in your ear.

"I'll be three seats down. Don't go anywhere without telling me first and if anything happens, don't make a move until I get to you, understand?"

You nodded to show your understanding and Brendon mumbled a quick 'Good' before swiftly disappearing to assume his position a little way down the bar.

Noticeably more relaxed after Brendon had left, your friends immediately engulfed you in a tight bear hug, bombarding you with questions.

"We haven't heard from you in weeks! What's going on?"

"How are you doing, hon?"

"Any news on that Asset guy?"

"Why didn't you tell us that your bodyguard was smoking hot?"

"Woah, calm down!" you held up both hands to silence everyone and chuckled at your friends' hunger for details. "I'm sorry I haven't been in touch, things have been more hectic than you could ever imagine. But I'll try to keep you updated and in the loop as much as possible, I promise. I'm doing better. Not one hundred percent, but I'll get there eventually. No, there hasn't been any news on him, and even if there was, I don't think I'd be allowed to disclose any information. And I didn't mention his looks because it's not important," you shrugged, stealing your friend Ian's drink and taking a gulp.

"Uh, of course it's important! I'd be dying from happiness if I had that hot piece of ass following me around every day," Chelsey said, biting her lip and looking over at Brendon, who shifted uncomfortably under her penetrative gaze and averted his own back to the surrounding sea of people.

"The whole point of having him around is to not die. Besides," you replied, grabbing a few pretzels from the bowl in front of you. "He's not exactly the nicest of people."

"He doesn't seem that bad," Ian interjected. "A little intimidating, maybe. But I'm sure he's an okay guy."

You scoffed. "Oh, yeah? Wanna be-"

You were cut off by the sound of gunshots and glass shattering. Automatically, people had started to run, scream and take cover. Within a few seconds and before your brain could even process the fact that you were in danger, Brendon had tackled you to the floor and was laying on top of you, using his body as a shield to protect your own. With every gunshot, his grip on you tightened as he pulled you closer in an attempt to cover your entire body.

More S.H.I.E.L.D agents had made their way inside from their undercover positions and more shots were fired as they attempted to take out the assailants. There were lots of voices yelling orders and trying to communicate with each other and you recognised one of them as Agent Coulson's.

"Urie, there's a car and two escorts waiting out back. Get her out of here. Now."

Brendon wasted no time in gathering you into his arms and making a break for the back door.

Looking back over Brendon's shoulder, your stomach dropped at the sight of your friends. They were huddled together under a table while trying to avoid getting hit by any bullets, fear evident on all of their faces.

"Brendon, wait! We have to go back! My friends! They-they're gonna get hurt!" You thrashed wildly in Brendon's arms, making a futile attempt to loosen his grip on you.

"(Y/N), are you insane?! You can't go back there, it's you they're after!" He tightened his grip on you, preventing you from escaping his grasp.

"But they'll die if we just leave them there!" You yelled, getting hysterical.

"There are other agents there who'll protect them but right now we need to get you back to HQ."

He picked up the pace and half-dragged you outside to the black SUV that stood waiting, engines running in order to make a getaway as soon as possible.

Opening the back door and practically shoving you inside the vehicle before hopping in himself, he instructed the driver to go, which he immediately did; swerving into a side road, he carried you away from the attack as fast as possible.

As soon as you were a good distance away, Brendon called S.H.I.E.L.D HQ.

"This is Agent Urie, reporting in. ETA 20 minutes to HQ. (Y/N) is secure."

✧ ✧ ✧

S.H.I.E.L.D HQ, Washington D.C.

"I told you we should've gone back for them," you said angrily.

"And then what would I have done, (Y/N)? Save all five of them while you got killed? I don't think so."

"If you knew me, you'd know that I'd rather die before I'd let anything happen to the people I love. Especially if they get hurt because of me."

"They're alive, (Y/N)."

"Barely. They're all in the hospital with critical injuries and I'm here without a scratch. That's not fair," you said, tears welling up in your eyes.

Brendon rubbed a hand over his face before running it through his hair and chuckling darkly at the ground. "Life's not fair. Especially not your one. You'd better get used to it, sweetheart. Because the sooner you realise just how much danger you're actually in, the sooner you can accept the fact that no matter what you do, someone will always end up hurt."

"How?" you whispered incredulously.

"How what?"

"How can you not feel bad about what happened to my friends at all?"

"Because they're none of my concern, (Y/N). You are."

"So you couldn't give less of a shit about their safety?"

"Not when it's compared to yours, no," he stated matter-of-factly, leaning back against the glass desk situated on the far side of the room. You were thankful that he was a good distance away from you, because at that moment you wanted nothing more than to break his nose. You couldn't believe the lack of remorse he was showing. It was shocking.

"And you don't feel any regret about leaving them there when I begged you to turn back?" you questioned, taking a few steps toward him.

"No, I don't," he replied sternly, standing up straight as you advanced on him. "Not one bit."

Raising your hand above your head, you brought it down swiftly in an attempt to smack him but because of his lightning-quick reflexes, he caught your hand without even flinching and immediately pushed you up against the nearest wall, your hand pinned above your head.

"You wanna try that again, sweetheart?"

"I really can't stand you," you spat, repulsed at the lack of humanity in the person standing in front of you.

"My job isn't to be your friend. My job is to protect you. And I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. The sooner you get used to that, the sooner you'll stop being shocked at the awful things I do," he said, leaning in so close to you that you could feel his breath tickle your neck, causing the hairs there to stand up on edge. "Because I can assure you, there will be more of them. Much more."

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Thank you for reading x